The Gemara (Beitzah 16A) relates that Shammai Hazakein ate every day in honor of Shabbos. If he found a good piece of meat, he would say, “This is for Shabbos.” If he would then find a nicer piece, he would put that one aside for Shabbos and eat the first one. Hillel Hazakein, on the other hand, had a “middah acheres” (a different approach). The Gemara says that “all his actions were for the sake of Heaven” and he lived by the verse (Tehillim 68:2): “Bless Hashem day by day.” Rashi explains that he always trusted in Hashem to provide him with something nice for Shabbos.
The Maharsha writes that Shammai’s way was certainly very great, but Hillel’s way was a “middah acheres”, which was even greater, because his approach was based on having utmost bitachon in Hashem.
The Ben Ish Chai zt”l (in Sefer Ben Yehoyada) expounds on Hillel’s bitachon and writes that some people trust in Hashem but don’t say out loud, “I have bitachon that Hashem will do such-and-such for me.” The reason they don’t do this is because they don’t believe with complete certainty that it will happen, and they don’t want to be embarrassed for making a false prediction if it doesn’t come to fruition. There are others, however, whose bitachon is so great that they are 100% positive that Hashem will grant them what they need, so they don’t mind saying it out loud. This was Hillel’s level of bitachon.
The Ben Ish Chai uses this idea to explain the pasuk (Tehillim 22:5): “In You, our forefathers trusted. They trusted and were not ashamed.” This means that the Avos trusted in Hashem so strongly that they weren’t ashamed to openly say to others that they had bitachon that He would help them.
He also uses this concept to explain the Gemara (Brachos 60A) that relates that Hillel was once walking down the road when he heard screaming coming from the city. He said, “I am certain that this is not coming from my house.” The Gemara then says that he was a fulfillment of the verse (Tehillim 112:7): “He will not fear bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in Hashem.”
He explains that Hillel’s bitachon was so great that he had no doubt that Hashem will fulfill his will. Therefore, he was certain that the screaming wasn’t coming from his house. He had no suspicion at all that when he got home in a few minutes, he would find that the screaming was coming from there and he would be forced to retract his words. Since his trust in Hashem was so firm, it was as if he was already standing in his home and seeing that no one was screaming there. “His heart was steadfast” in that his bitachon didn’t contain a trace of doubt.
The Ben Ish Chai concludes by saying that Hillel allowed the world to see his bitachon so that they could take a lesson form it about the extent of bitachon that is required from everyone.
